As the first of what will hopefully be many career accolades for the Patriots star quarterback, Drake Maye has been named a second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press. Along with Maye, Patriots CB Marcus Jones was also named to the AP's second team as a punt returner.
Rams QB Matthew Stafford earned 31 first-place votes to Maye's 18, per the AP. Only three players have won NFL MVP who weren't first-team All-Pros that same season: Bills QB Josh Allen (2024), Steve McNair (shared MVP in 2003), and Broncos QB John Elway (1987). However, the AP voters did decide last season that Ravens QB Lamar Jackson had the better statistical season, but Allen was the more valuable player to his team, setting a precedent that it's possible to split the two awards. Maye is the first Patriot on offense to be named to the AP's All-Pro team since G Joe Thuney in 2019.
This season, Maye led the Patriots to a playoff berth with an outstanding 14-3 record, helping New England secure its first division title since 2019 and earning his second Pro Bowl nod. Along with head coach Mike Vrabel's arrival, Maye's play is a major reason for the team's 10-win turnaround. Maye finished the season with 4,394 passing yards and 31 touchdowns, the most by a Patriots quarterback since Tom Brady in 2017. Maye also rushed for 450 yards and four touchdowns. Along with leading the league in several major passing categories, a deeper dive into Maye's season shows how ridiculous the 23-year-old was as the Patriots quarterback.
The Pats QB led the NFL in completion rate (72%), yards per pass attempt (8.9), passer rating (113.5), total QBR (77.2), expected points added per drop-back (+0.31), completion percentage over expectation (+10.8%), and he produced the highest rate of 20-plus yard pass plays (13.5%). Maye also had one of the best deep passing regular seasons of the NextGen Stats era. The Pats quarterback completed an insane 53.2% of his deep passes (25-of-47) and added +1.37 expected points per drop-back on throws over 20 air yards, the second-highest EPA output since at least 2016. On top of his elite deep-passing accuracy, Maye also had the highest passer rating of any quarterback while under pressure this season (102.6).
As for Jones, the Patriots standout punt returner tied for the league lead with two punt return touchdowns and averaged 17.3 yards per punt return. Jones is now the all-time career leader in punt return average at 14.3 yards, but was edged by Titans return man Chimere Dike for the first-team honors. Dike was also named to the Pro Bowl as the AFC's top return man.
Although they deserve to be recognized individually, the Patriots sole focus as a team is on this weekend's Wild Card matchup vs. the Chargers. New England will host Los Angeles at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday night.
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